Steve Palmer's SDC Championship predictions & free golf betting tips

Steve Palmer tipped 60-1 winner Darius van Driel at the Kenya Open last week and he has five fancies in a bid to follow up in the SDC Championship.

When to bet on the SDC Championship

By 4.30am on Thursday

It's also worth noting that Kwiff are offering a £30 free bet when new customers bet £10 on golf 

Steve Palmer's SDC Championship predictions

Tom McKibbin
4pts each-way 18-1 Coral, Ladbrokes

Ewen Ferguson
3.5pts each-way 16-1 Coral, Ladbrokes

Jayden Schaper
2pts each-way 35-1 bet365

Matthew Baldwin
1.5pts each-way 66-1 general

David Ravetto
1pt each-way 90-1 Hills

New customers can get a £30 free bet when they bet on the SDC Championship with Kwiff

Steve Palmer's SDC Championship preview

The DP World Tour moves from Kenya to South Africa for the SDC Championship, with many in this week's field having made the relatively short journey from Nairobi to the Eastern Cape.

Zander Lombard started the week atop the SDC Championship betting as he bids to shed his DPWT maiden tag. The 29-year-old has been expensive to follow for his supporters. This week's assignment in his home country provides another golden opportunity, but the brittle Pretorian is difficult to trust under pressure.

Steve Palmer's top tip

Tom McKibbin 18-1

Keep the faith with rising star Tom McKibbin and back the Northern Irishman to win a second DP World Tour title this week. Fourth place in the Qatar Masters last time out was another rock-solid performance from a player who has been swinging superbly all season.

Form figures of 25-14-16-4 show how McKibbin has been easing his way nicely into the 2024 campaign, despite a cold putter, and the 21-year-old will have high hopes for the months ahead. His main target is to win one of the PGA Tour cards offered to the top ten in the Race to Dubai standings – something which should be well within this great talent's compass.

McKibbin's tee-to-green solidity counts for so much at a windswept St. Francis Links. He has grown up playing some of the best links courses in the world, so will be comfortable in this week's conditions, and he has quickly built up a respectable record in South Africa.

McKibbin's St. Francis Links debut last year was hugely encouraging. Struggling for form in the early months of the season, he opened with a 76 and seemed set for a missed cut, but rounds of 65, 72 and 69 meant 18th place. Three months later he won the European Open.

Next best bet

Ewen Ferguson 16-1

Four solid rounds for seventh place in the Kenya Open last week have set Ewen Ferguson up nicely for another suitable assignment. The Scot suffered a cold putter in round one and round four in Nairobi, but was swinging beautifully throughout, finding fairways for fun.

Ferguson's accuracy is worth its weight in gold again this week. His record in Africa is excellent and his St. Francis Links debut last season was eyecatching. He arrived in dismal form – only one top-40 finish in six events that year – but fell in love with the St. Francis challenge. Rounds of 72, 70, 68 and 68 meant third place.

This time Ferguson tees up with confidence – form figures of 23-9-7 behind him – and he could be battling with McKibbin for the title on Sunday.

Other selections

Jayden Schaper 35-1
Matthew Baldwin 66-1
David Ravetto 90-1

The main South African threat this week may come from Jayden Schaper, who possesses the tee-to-green control to handle a windy St. Francis Links. His home course is Ebotse Links and he transferred that links knowledge to St. Francis by contending three times there on the Sunshine Tour. Fifth place in the 2021 SA PGA at St. Francis was followed by sixth in the 2022 Vodacom Origins event there, then tenth in the 2022 SA PGA.

Schaper was a leaderboard regular in DPWT events in Africa before Christmas – ninth in the Joburg Open, fifth in the SA Open, seventh in the Alfred Dunhill, sixth in Mauritius – and a return to his home continent is just what the doctor ordered.

Matthew Baldwin romped to a seven-shot victory last year and the defending champion faces an almost identical test this week, with loads of wind in the forecast again. The Birkdale boy is a master at handling a breeze and is playing better than the bare form suggests.

Baldwin has got three missed cuts on his 2024 record, but all were by just one shot. One was in a Rolex Series event and the last was in Qatar after a second-round 68. He was 23rd in the Bahrain Championship two starts back. Last year he had form figures of MC-MC-30-60 before making his barnstorming St. Francis debut.

David Ravetto won the Dimension-Data Pro-Am the week before last and the talented 26-year-old Frenchman has a strong record in South Africa, including 18th place on his St. Francis debut in last season's SDC Championship. He was in terrible form coming into that event, but fell in love with St. Francis.

Course guide for the SDC Championship

• Course St. Francis Links, Eastern Cape, South Africa
• Prize money $1.5m ($250,050 to the winner)
• Length 7,192 yards
• Par 72 - four par-fives; ten par-fours; four par-threes
• Field 156 The cut Top 65 and ties qualify for round three
• Highest-ranked players in field (world ranking in brackets) Rikuya Hoshino (81), Thriston Lawrence (89), Jordan Smith (91), Zander Lombard (98), Keita Nakajima (99)
• Course records - 72 holes 270 Matthew Baldwin (2023); 18 holes 63 Steve Surry (2021 SA PGA Championship), Ruan Korb (2022 Vodacom Origins of Golf), Jens Dantorp (2023)
• Course winners taking part Jaco van Zyl, JJ Senekal, Keith Horne, Ruan Korb, Matthew Baldwin, Rupert Kaminski
• When to bet By 4.30am on Thursday
• Time difference South Africa is two hours ahead of the UK and Ireland
• Last week – Kenya Open 1 D Van Driel (60-1), T2 N Elvira (40-1), J Dean (500-1), T4 M Elvira (60-1), M Jordan (50-1), A Otaegui (40-1), T7 E Ferguson (16-1), C Syme (35-1)
• Course type Links
• Course overview St. Francis Links, designed by Jack Nicklaus, staged the Vodacom Origins of Golf in 2007, 2008 and from 2013 through 2018, as well as 2022, plus the SA PGA Championship in 2021, 2022 and 2023. The inaugural SDC Championship was last year
• Story of last year Matthew Baldwin handled the winds better than anyone, cruising to a seven-shot triumph for a maiden DP World Tour title
• Weather forecast Sunny, warm and windy, particularly on Thursday and Saturday
• Type of player suited to the challenge This semi-links should be battered by strong winds again, so precision and an ability to handle a breeze seems essential
• Key attribute Accuracy

Steve Palmer's SDC Championship key stat

Only one South African finished in the top eight in last year's SDC Championship

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Kwiff golf SDC Championship betting sign-up offer: terms and conditions

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• Visit Kwiff for additional T&Cs
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